A day in the life of an assistant

Yep, since I'm technically unemployed (are writers ever really out of work?!?!?) I took the job as Angela's assistant today. First assignment: drive her to Los Angeles. So we left Yuma about 6:45 am (I'd forgotten just how much I love getting up when the clock has a 5 on it!) in a thunderstorm. Yes, you read that correctly, a rain/thunder/huge lightening storm in YUMA. ARIZONA. The DESERT. I know, crazy weird. And to add to the craziness, last Thursday they had a storm as well - one we missed because we were in LA. Yes, we spend our Thursdays in SoCal now.

I drove, Ang slept some, and I listened to my awesome mixed tapes (I mean CDs, but 'mixed CDs' just doesn't have the same ring to me) from Justin. (Shout out - Justin rocks at making mixed tapes - I have 5 and they are on the top of my playlist, very eclectic!) I also had a diet root beer, a tootsie pop, a fiber bar, a pink water (some crystal light I bought on clearance at Target that Ang is not a fan of), and some orange Tic Tacs. Mind you all snacks consumed while on a road trip are deemed necessary and don't count against points for the day, just in case you were wondering.

We also ate lunch on the road, while driving, something we're becoming very adept at. We'd made PB & J sandwiches in the morning and the secret to an easy driving lunch is to wrap your sandwich in a large piece of tin foil which can then be unwrapped and used as a tray. We had hard boiled eggs (very car friendly), goldfish pretzels (1oo-calorie pack so technically health food), red pepper strips (only me of course), cheese, and cookies (again health food), oh and pink water (since I drank the root beer at 7:15 that's all that was left).

This was a very sleepy ride, I had trouble keeping my eyes open at times, hence the food and loud music, and 2 stops for breaks. Regardless we made it downtown LA right on schedule, got our visitor's badges and headed to the teacher placement fair. What an interesting afternoon, one in which my assistantness really showed.

Here's the way the fair worked: Ang checked in and was given 2 sheets of stickers, one said SCIENCE and one said HIGHLY QUALIFIED. These stickers had to be put on the top of each of her resumes. The nice pristine, $11 resumes we'd had made at Staples yesterday. It was quite something to look around this large office area and see all these women and men (many of whom were obviously not in their early twenties) sitting on the floor (there weren't a lot of chairs) in their suits and skirts, resumes all around them, stickering. Yeah, government ideas are great. Luckily I was able to scout out 2 chairs and help her with her stickering. Then we had to walk up a flight of stairs (which doesn't seem like a huge deal but it was already about 95 in the building and everyone is nervous and dressed warmly) because they didn't want to tie up the elevators and enter the Hall of Folders.

The Hall of Folders was a big glass wall (the opposite side of which was the atrium where we all would gather) with folders taped to it listing the school, whether they'd arrived yet, and the positions they needed to fill. Above each folder was a map with the school's location (the LA Unified School District (LAUSD) is HUGE). So Ang and I walked down the hall a little, with the other 100 or so candidates, and stuck a resume in a folder. But mind you we had stickered 20 resumes and had another 10 in reserve. All the while the LAUSD employees are trying to get the candidates into the atrium so that they can hear their names when they're called back to the cubicles for interviews. So Ang went off to get a seat and I stayed to write down the schools' folders she'd stuck her resume in. Oh, and I added her resume to 12 other folders. And on some I wrote 'elementary certified' under the 'science' sticker. I know, I'm a good assistant.

Then I went to the huge map in the hall and found 16 schools and wrote down where they were in relation to things we knew (i.e., SE of Inglewood, N of airport, really far away, etc.). With all those assisting jobs done I headed into the atrium and sat with all the other nervous candidates. The emcee of the day (I assume he worked for LAUSD but no idea what he did) seemed nice and kept things light, cracking jokes, giving out door prizes (I won one! Well okay, technically Ang did but I went to get the ticket at the beginning, and I collected the prize when she wasn't there - it's a calculator shaped like an apple, on a string. I know - awesome). Also, they had water and snacks (animal crackers, I was happy).

I mostly people-watched. The woman we'd ridden the elevator with when we all first arrived who got a job within an hour (they announced when a candidate was hired and everyone clapped), the people who sat there for the 3+ hours I was there and never got called back for an interview. The men who looked ready for a flood, the women who needed to lose the hat or stockings with sandals. Ang didn't spend much time with me, she was constantly back for interviews (I think she did 5 or 6 total) and when she was back in the offices, her name was called probably 15 times for other interviews which was pretty cool. I mean I felt bad for all the people not being called and I didn't really go around saying, 'That's my sister!' but you know, I was cheering on the inside!

After I won my door prize, I started talking to this guy who'd been teaching for 7 years and who had just become 'displaced' - I guess this means he still is under contract for LAUSD but he doesn't have an assignment. He gets paid but has no classroom (he was a P.E., then a science teacher) and will have to go be a floating sub in his old school come the first day of school if he isn't placed. So he has some incentive to try and find himself a job although the district is supposed to be doing that for him. We talked about middle school kids, teaching, housing (he suggested buying anything if possible since because he's already made $200,000 on his house in 2 years apparently), etc. Then all of a sudden Ang is at my side and she's saying, "We have to go, we have to go!" I looked at him and said, I guess this is good! and ran behind after her.

I'm sure she'll blog more about it but the gist is SHE GOT A JOB OFFER! Yep yep! A really good one. At Burroughs Middle School teaching 7th grade English to kids in the Gifted and Talented Program. HOW FREAKIN' COOL IS THAT?!?!?! And it's just 6 and a quarter miles from UCLA. Yeah, we know where we're going to live now - well a close proximity at least. That's tomorrow's job, find an apartment.

So yeah, God does answer prayers. He likes patience. And He loves us even when we're not perfect or very patient. And sometimes he answers them with a pretty great reply.

My additional assistant duties required finding us a hotel room for the night (luckily the Holiday Inn Express we knew how to locate in Century City had one room left) and food (yes, it did take me about 25 minutes to get us to the mall I'd seen on our way to the hotel, and yes, when we left the mall we realized it was only half a block or so from our hotel in the opposite direction). Now tomorrow I get to find us an apartment. Or maybe that'll be Ang's job:-) We'll see. For now, I'm going to asleep! Assisting is rough stuff.